Page 71 of Courting Trouble
Delilah nodded. ‘Consider me warned.’
‘I’m sorry everything got so messy here. We shouldn’t have come,’ Cassie apologised.
Delilah looked at her like she’d lost the last of her marbles. ‘You didn’t know Petra would do this.’
‘I should have, though. I should have seen it coming.’
‘Stop it,’ Delilah admonished gently.
‘I won’t. I need to apologise to you. I’ve become… messy. That’s not what you came to me for,’ Cassie said.
She meant it. Everything had spun far beyond what she could have imagined. All she was supposed to do was train Delilah to play well enough to fake it onscreen. Instead, she’d dragged her to a camp run by her toxic ex, thrown her into unnecessary drama, and ended up getting her exposed online. It was, to put it mildly, well beyond the remit.
‘You’re not messy,’ Delilah said.
‘I am a little messy,’ Cassie insisted.
Delilah sighed. ‘Fine. You are.’ And then she shrugged.
‘That’s it? Shrug? I’ve put your career in jeopardy.’
‘It was in jeopardy long before Petra got involved,’ Delilah said with a light laugh. ‘It’s never been in anything else, as a matter of fact.’
Cassie cleared her throat. ‘OK, you’ve forced my hand. I have to tell you something.’
Delilah’s smile dropped. ‘What?’
‘I watched your show. After we started training.’
Delilah groaned. ‘God,no. Why the hell would you do that?’
Cassie gave her a rueful smile. ‘Curiosity. The reason I’m telling you this is because… you’re good. The show sucks. Butyou’regood. You deserve this opportunity. And even if something took it, there would be others. You’re a talent.’
Delilah’s grin softened. ‘That’s sweet. Mortifying for me. But sweet.’ She gave a little nervous laugh. ‘Since we’re confessing things… I’ve watched you play. A lot. At first, I justwatched a few clips to know who was going to train me, but then… I couldn’t stop watching. I found every televised match you ever played, just about.’
Cassie raised an eyebrow, shocked. ‘What?’
‘It was kind of addictive. You’re unreal.’
Cassie tried not to let herself get a big head. ‘Maybe. Once.’
‘It sucks that you got injured. You’re great,’ Delilah said.
‘I might have been,’ Cassie said.
‘Present tense, Cassie. Youaregreat,’ Delilah said.
Cassie licked her lips, looking away, overwhelmed. She traced her thumb along Delilah’s arm. ‘Yeah, great that I brought you here and exposed you to a narcissist with a grudge against me.’
Delilah shook her head gently. ‘Again, I’m shrugging.’ She waggled her shoulders dramatically in a way that made Cassie have to fight down laughter.
‘I trust you to get me through it,’ Delilah said.
Cassie let out a low laugh. ‘To get through what I caused?’
‘I mean it,’ Delilah said firmly. ‘I trust you.’
Cassie felt the weight of Delilah’s words. And then she felt a shot of terror. How real was this getting? Was she allowed to trust it? Or was she being very stupid right now? Was Delilah simply saying,What the hell else can I do at this point if I want this role?
